I used the word “movie” in conjunction with the word “Gateway” the other day, and several quick-witted blog readers wrote in to ask what was going to happen with a film for my novel of that title. I shouldn’t have said anything, because it’s a long way from anything tangible, but I was kind of excited about it.

The small amount of news behind my remark is just that, after the previous producers spent somewhere around a million dollars on scripts without finding one they could film, I decided, in collaboration with my son Rick, aka Fred the 4th, to write our own. I do hope it works out well and maybe earns us at least an Emmy or something.

Rick already has three Emmys of his own, but his problem is his good wife is collecting them faster than he is, so what he would really like is an Oscar.

Of course, before we can start thinking about that we really should finish writing the script.

5 Comments

Adaptations of complex novels with exotic ideas is always tough. I think Gateway has a leg up here, in that the “setup” could be easily introduced through news reports, videos of mission logs (those could be fun, and harrowing . . . cheap to produce, since you’d use the same sets over and over), reality show coverage, and etcetera.

Of course, no matter how great the adaptation, the Hollywood bastards will insist on tearing it up so there are leering bad guys, goop-dripping monsters, and a climactic battle.

Jim Worrad says:

That’s excellent news, thank you for updating us. The script is alive and who better to work on it than the original author and his son. Perfect! Wishing you every success and I’m impatiently waiting for Gateway to hit the big screen

Joseph T Major says:

@Stefan: And plenty of explosions! And a rough, tough, woman fighter who can beat any man with one hand tied behind her back. And a wicked gub’mint agent who is trying to sabotage everything. And a dull-witted, beer-bellied, fuzzy-cheeked sidekick who keeps on destroying things trying to use them (unless he’s the protagonist). And a cute furry alien. And plenty of identifiable logos which can be slapped on to everything from headbands to tennis shoes. And a rockin’ suite of music. Then, there are the action figures, the official novelization (you don’t think they’re going to try pushing this old-timey book), the cartoon spinoff series . . .

Steven says:

I’m still waiting for the screen adaptation, or miniseries, of The Space Merchants. It seems more relevant than ever before, given the current political situation with the Tea Partyers, Republicans, and corporate hacks and their ilk doing all that they can to give corporations and the ultra-wealthy more power, and take away what little power the rest of us currently have to oppose them. The worst thing is that a large portion of the American public (including my parents) seems to support this, without really knowing it. If I remember correctly, that is pretty close to the society that the protagonist of The Space Merchants lived in. Frederick and Cyril were pretty prescient in some ways with that novel.

No, I’m still not THAT paranoid about it, but sometimes on down days, I wonder…

Still, I would like to see the movie, although it would probably be a lot harder to sell in Hollywood than Gateway.